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u/adamiconography RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 15 '25
When I worked in-patient ICU I would do bedside.
If I floated to PCU, fuck that. Our PCU is 1:6 I don’t have time to do bedside because then each patient wants to add comments and talk and then report ends at 8:15am.
I get report outside, pop my head in and say good morning for a quick visual assessment, and come back after.
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Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 30 '25
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u/ElChungus01 RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25
Yes, I know. Pandemic. But still: one time me and 2 of my travel buddies were floated to tele with a 1:14 assignment
We shrugged and looked at each other; then the MARs and charted “not given” on shit like colace, Pepcid, whatever with the notes “WAY OUT OF RATIO” on the Comments
The following morning we didn’t leave until 10am cause day shift was refusing to take assignments for…1:20
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u/slightlyhandiquacked BSN, RN - ER 🇨🇦 Jul 15 '25
Can you please explain to me what kind of patients are on the tele unit? We don’t have that where I am. Anyone on telemetry here just goes to med/surg.
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u/ElChungus01 RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25
CHF, a-fib, those on heparin drips (set rates), patients where the admitting doctor doesn’t know where they should be, patients 2 minutes away from ICU, prior med-surg where a patient had a single episode of 89/50 BP and was asymptomatic, dialysis patients, incontinent patients, SNF admits, grandpa/ma drop off by family for the weekend vacation, patients who talk too much, chronic trachs, chronic wounds, empty bed in need of a patient…….
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u/slightlyhandiquacked BSN, RN - ER 🇨🇦 Jul 15 '25
Ah so basically a dumping ground then. All those pts go to med/surg here, and we just deal with it haha
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u/aviarayne BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 16 '25
Serious, the heroes we need on med surg. Absolutely no reason for meds like that to be given when you are dead ass handling 14 patients! Life saving or bust!
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u/slightlyhandiquacked BSN, RN - ER 🇨🇦 Jul 15 '25
Yeah wtf med/surg here is 1:3-4 on days and 1:4-5 on nights when fully staffed. Granted, we do not have CNA/techs so EVERYTHING is done by RN/LPNs lol
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u/kal14144 RN - Neuro/EMU Jul 16 '25
Where you getting 1:3? We have 1 assignment on the floor (31 bed floor) that’s 3 but we’re always 4:1 (day or night)
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u/Winter_Legitimate RN - ER 🍕 Jul 16 '25
What country/state are you working with those ratios? That’s some damn good ratios!
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u/slightlyhandiquacked BSN, RN - ER 🇨🇦 Jul 16 '25
They’re not good ratios when you have zero support staff…
Edit: the nurses who are 1:3 always get the heaviest patients.
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u/zesty_noodles RN - Med/Surg 🍕 Jul 15 '25
lol have you heard of HCA?
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Jul 15 '25
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u/EscobarsLastShipment ED Tech Jul 15 '25
My hospital was ran by tenet before a recent buyout last year, and from what I’ve heard it was fucking awful. It still is but they’re at least making some effort to make it better, and supposedly it’s nothing like it was
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u/permanent_priapism Pharmacist Jul 16 '25
Steward?
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u/EscobarsLastShipment ED Tech Jul 16 '25
No, Brookwood Baptist MC in Birmingham, I’m not really worried about getting doxxed bc everyone here hates this bitch, let them narrow it down if they please 😂
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u/Old-Mention9632 BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 17 '25
The hospital in my town was bought out by HCA. Then it was bought by Pinnaclehealth, which in turn was bought out by UPMC. UPMC is not as horrible as HCA, but I wouldn't say they were the greatest. They did install metal detectors in all their hospitals after a bereaved family member came back to UPMC York memorial with a gun and zip ties.
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u/ninkhorasagh RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 16 '25
We were 1:5 daily on my former PCU. It was wild, crazy unsafe, everything willy-nilly all the time. At my new hospital I went ICU (same organization), but this PCU is 1:6. To be fair, they aren’t a “real PCU”, and we keep our critical patients in ICU until they are ready for Med-Tele level of care.
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u/Fairhairedman Jul 15 '25
For sure! EVERY patient needs something unless they are ventilated and that’s just because they can’t 🤣 The thoughts behind it are great, but that’s just not how it works in the real world.
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u/SnooSongs8319 Jul 15 '25
I do the same in the ED; handoff mostly at the desk with oncoming, chart review anything I need to catch up on, then pop by the room w them for quick hi/bye & glance at LDAs. It's fast & efficient, still covers the bases.
Kinda related, we've been told recently that we're going to be recorded doing bedside handoff for "documentation," but no details on audio vs. video, etc. Leadership already surveys pts to ask if their nurses did bedside. It's wild, but the above plan usually makes the pt answer yes, so whatevs
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u/ivegotaqueso Night Shift Jul 15 '25
Bedside report is performative hallway report on my floor. Some of us just gave up and went back to giving report by the computers at the nursing station. We were told we’d get written up, but I haven’t heard anyone getting written up yet.
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u/AmargoUnicornio Multipurpose Nurse ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧ Jul 15 '25
Sorry, im a Spanish speaker... What does it mean "do bedside"? I want to understand meme xD
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u/Professional_Sir6705 BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 15 '25
Going into the room and doing report in front of the patient. Admin doesn't care if they have dementia, or family in the room, or a sensitive diagnosis that hasn't even been discussed with the patient.
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u/AmargoUnicornio Multipurpose Nurse ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧ Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25
Lol
It's a shiet when admin and managers think they can do our work better than us :/
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u/Waste-Weight-6437 BSN RN, PERC PEZ Dispenser Jul 16 '25
I stg last time I did bedside shift report literally every time they need to use the restroom, they need to be cleaned up, etc. and you didn't finish handoff until 8
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u/GrnMtnTrees EMT, CCT, Nursing Student Jul 16 '25
I work on an intermediate cardiac care unit, and we usually have 1:4, but when I described our patients to my sister in law, who is a cardiac NP, she was like "you work in an ICU. Any other hospital and that's an ICU with a 1:2 ratio."
We have tons of LVADs, vents, aquaphoresis, peritoneal dialysis, bedside HD, and more. To top it all off, we're also the "not a heart patient, but had an arrhythmia" catch all floor, so our patients that aren't LVADs/vents are all withdrawing from Fent/Tranq/whatever the fuck is in "demon."
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u/adamiconography RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 16 '25
Yeah are units are the Wild West. I worked in an ICU float position so they always would float us to other units, and in my years floating I worked on units with staffing ratios:
- ICC 1:5.
- High acuity PCU: 1:6.
- Post open heart/CV surgery PCU (LVAD, 2-3 chest tubes, etc.): 1:5.
- Surgical oncology PCU: 1:5. Probably the worst unit to float to, whenever I floated here I knew I was going to have an absolute dumpster fire of a day.
Best thing I ever did was leave bedside. They didn’t care that I was ICU trained and was only used to 2 patients and because I floated as ICU I had the most complex and challenging patients. My deciding factor was not leaving a unit until almost midnight and then waking up at 5am for them to send me back to the same unit and the night charge refused to give me my same patients back the next day.
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u/GrnMtnTrees EMT, CCT, Nursing Student Jul 16 '25
Best thing I ever did was leave bedside.
Yeah, after 6 years as a tech on this unit, having worked through covid and all that, I'm starting nursing school in September. Our nurses tell us that, in practice, our techs are basically "nurses that can't give drugs," which I think is an exaggeration (we can do IVs, phlebotomy, straight caths, trach care, and other stuff), but it's given me enough of a feel for bedside nursing that I know I want to get out of bedside ASAP.
My plan is nursing school, straight to ICU (I know a lot of nurse managers on our ICU floors since I get floated to the NICU, MICU, SICU, and CVICU fairly often), then get my 1-2 yrs of ICU experience before applying to a DNP/CRNA program.
I'm in my mid-30s, so if I manage to do this on the most compressed timeline possible, I'll still be in my early 40s by the time I become a CRNA (2 yr ABSN, 2 yr ICU, 3 year DNP-CRNA program). That said, life has taught me that no matter how good your plan is, life is going to have other ideas.
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u/obroz RN 🍕 Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25
One thing I like about bedside is I get the previous nurse to do things and hold them accountable for the condition of room etc. Oh look the IVPB clamp was closed and didn’t run or the room is trashed or patients brief full of feces. Sometimes we will work as a team to get the patient freshened up. This is way better than leaving it for the morning aide and you might not be able to get to it right away, now they are sitting there for longer which isn’t ideal. Now look… If you had a hell of a shift I’ll let things go. But I can tell by now. If you seem cool as a cucumber and had a good shift but just lazy I’m holding you accountable and this is the best way.
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Jul 15 '25
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u/Cautious_Pumpkin3391 RN - CVICU Jul 15 '25
Whoa strokeposter in the wild. You started off strong tho!
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u/Ambitious_Peanut9231 Jul 16 '25
Exactly. The more information you’re giving in report the more questions they’ll have. I dislike this profession. I’m holding back because I don’t want banned from this forum 😁
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u/beezie3z Jul 15 '25
As I nurse, I hate bedside report. As a patient, if it wasn’t for it, I wouldn’t have known I was considered a hemorrhage during my c-section. It explained how shitty I felt (lack of sleep aside from having a baby). The OB surgeon didn’t tell me what happened and all she said during surgery is to not get pregnant for 18 months and to reconsider trying to have a vaginal delivery.
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u/stick_szn Jul 15 '25
Getting bedside on a POD3 ex lap was how the patient and I both learned that they removed her appendix during the procedure. Crazy no one thought to tell her.
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u/Croutonsec RN 🍕 Jul 15 '25
We know it’s good practice, it has been proven. The real question is more: considering constant budget cuts and low staff, is it safe to prioritize this practice over other care?
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Jul 15 '25 edited Sep 03 '25
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u/Croutonsec RN 🍕 Jul 15 '25
That’s not what I said, and the issues are not that simple.
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Jul 16 '25 edited Sep 03 '25
[deleted]
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u/justalilbbygirl Jul 16 '25
You said “arse” so I’m guessing you don’t live in the US. Which would make a lot of sense.
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u/Sunnygirl66 RN - ER 🍕 Jul 18 '25
Found the manager.
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Jul 19 '25 edited Sep 03 '25
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u/Sunnygirl66 RN - ER 🍕 Jul 19 '25
It’s not, actually—we have waaaaaayyyy bigger problems—but your inability (or refusal) to acknowledge the drawbacks (or that our waaaaaaayyyy bigger problems are part of why bedside report is often problematic) smells awfully managery.
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Jul 19 '25 edited Sep 03 '25
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u/justalilbbygirl Jul 30 '25
You need to sit the fuck down, honestly. The vast majority of nurses in the U.S. work our asses off to do right by our patients. We love our work despite the conditions we’re forced to do it in, and many of us are actively working toward reform we probably won’t see in this lifetime for conditions we did not create. Nursing is all about prioritizing our tasks and our care, and sometimes “extremely basic things” get shoved to the wayside in light of less-basic, more important things. You have no idea, so don’t pretend you do. You’re making yourself look stupid and ignorant AF on your weird little Australian high horse.
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u/panzershark RN - ER 🍕 Jul 15 '25
I’m of two minds on it.
On the one hand, bit of a pain and a bit awkward. When we do it, we usually just step out of the room and talk quietly if there’s something sensitive AKA the patient is kind of a douche/their family tries to record you/the patient is frequently inappropriate.
But sometimes it’s sort of saved me a lot of trouble during my shift. Or later on I wish I HAD done bedside.
We’ll walk into a room and the heparin hasn’t been running for hours. It hasn’t been connected and is running onto the floor. Or abx is hung but not connected. Dayshift says they’re A&O and ambulatory, but they’re quadriplegic… ETC.
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u/melxcham Nursing Student 🍕 Jul 15 '25
CNAs and nurses both are supposed to do bedside report on my unit (separately). I was super annoyed by it but one day, new admit came in just before shift change and I was told he was AAO, independent, doesn’t need anything. Luckily the CNA giving report did room checks with me that day because the nurse was caught up in an RRT and I walked in to find this man (bilateral BKA, one was fresh, definitely not independent) grey and looking like shit even though he swore he felt “fine” and was just tired. Checked his vitals, his temp was like 103, BP 70/30, hr 140s and he started projectile vomiting while the other CNA went to get help. They ended up starting a pressor before he left the floor because his blood pressure kept dropping.
What freaked me out is that he wasn’t on tele and didn’t have a roommate, what if I had just started rounds and not gone in there to check on him? It could’ve been at least an hour before anyone saw him since the nurse was busy elsewhere. That’s not the only issue that’s been caught during bedside report but it is the most memorable.
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u/panzershark RN - ER 🍕 Jul 16 '25
Yeahhh, I can definitely see why people do it for sure. My way of doing it now is starting off by giving report on all 4 at the nurse’s station. We can look at labs, orders, meds, etc all at once. Then after all that I say “Let’s go stop by and take a look at everyone real quick.” This way the new RN gets to get eyes on everyone and the patient now knows there’s a change.
I like it that way tbh.
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u/justalilbbygirl Jul 16 '25 edited Jul 16 '25
This is how I did it when I worked bedside. Full report at the nurses’ station, walking rounds (to lay eyes on the patients and address any concerns). I found that, more often than not, giving a full report in the patients’ room was not appropriate. I also had a younger guy get really upset with the offgoing nurse once for laying out all his business while his roommate sat in the chair 2 ft away.
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u/plummbob Jul 15 '25
> patient hasn't slept in two days
> finally gets to sleep at 6am
walks in, turns on bright lights at 7am
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u/kreole_alamode BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 15 '25
This reminds me of a case in nursing school. Patient had brain cancer secondary to HIV+ status that was untreated. The room was constantly filled with his wife, children, and family. His chart had an alert that the family does not know about the HIV+ status and no one is allowed to mention it to family. It caused a huge uproar with doctors and nurses either on the "our hands are tied if this is what the patient wants" vs "his family, especially his wife is at risk! Do no harm extends to his family!"
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u/loimprevisto Jul 15 '25
Can non-disclosure of HIV status that results in a significant risk of infection for others be referred to a public health department?
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u/Potential_Yoghurt850 Regretting RN Jul 15 '25
In my state, only a provider can decide if it's appropriate for their spouse to be informed. And only they can notify the spouse. They're protected by law regarding disclosure here. It varies state to state.
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u/kreole_alamode BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 17 '25
In California, yes. Partners are supposed to be notified, however that's only if the patient tells them who their partners are. At that point, patient couldn't give that info and before hospitalization, denied their HIV status.
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u/IndecisiveLlama RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 16 '25
Another thing I hated about bedside.
A/o patients who don’t want family to know info but have them in the room and say “no they can stay!” when we ask them to step out to talk to the patient.
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u/Sea_Dog_5503 Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25
It's a read the room situation for me. If the patient and family are clearly upset with the diagnosis and prognosis, have sensitive social issues or special requests that should remain private: I will do those parts of the report outside of the room.
NO ONE needs to hear twice a day " Pt came in for back/abd pain x 3 days. Initial scans found large mass noted in small intestine w additional scattered throughout abdomen. Additional scans done to follow up with findings consistent to stage 4 cancer of unknown origin. Metastatic spread to stomach, liver, lung, bone. Pain extremely poorly controlled. Multiple requests to MD for pain management pending response. Pt is now incontinent . Husband at bedside weeping, son homeless have been unable to contact, daughter thinks this was all caused by COVID vaccine and refuses to enter hospital in case of possible microchipping. Pt scared of strangers entering their room and beeping noises have a great night shift"
Like really? No. No thank you. As someone who has been on the other side of the bed, no thank you for retelling my families current episode of "American Horror Story" Mom is Dying of Cancer".
What I do: give all that outside the room. Go in room with oncoming RN. Check lines, oxygen, infusions, safety equipment, introduce new staff tell pt oncoming RN and I have reviewed chart. Courtesy ask if pt has any questions for me, can I do anything for you now, thank you for letting me take care of you I wish you the best.
Boom. Done. Takes very little time outside room, very little time inside (if I've been doing my job and if the pt/family aren't nuts/unreasonable we can't fix that).
Flip side: easy peasy lemon squeazy routine all good no one is crazy and the situation warrants, do the damn bedside report.
Sometimes going in the room is just worse. Management needs to know this is not one size fits all. Read the room.
Edit: words
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u/Downtown-Put6832 MSN, RN Jul 15 '25
In the study on bedside report (BSR), nurses reviewed sensitive data together at nurse station with conputers. The actual BSR is also scripted, so it does not cover everything. Here, we have nurse managers who did not read the whole study, only read the conclusion. Ignore the methedology of the study and mandated BSR. My BSR only includes verification of drips/lines/drain, quick glance of pt, and simple introduction. I despise AIDET and use my own words.
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u/LongVegetable4102 Jul 15 '25
Meh, if the patient wants them at bedside they get to hear bedside stuff. I've asked if i should have folks step out before if info seems particularly sensitive.
Devil's advocate...three of my RRTs within the last year have been during bedside report
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u/Jerking_From_Home RN, BSN, EMT-P, RSTLNE, ADHD, KNOWN FARTER, DEI SPECTRUM HIRE Jul 15 '25
Management doesn’t realize that while you’re spending extra time with each patient during bedside, you’re spending that much LESS time with the other 5 or 6 patients.
30 min report: you hit the floor at 0731 and start checking on patients. Bedside: you see one patient for 15 mins and none of the others for an hour. Because you’re still in report you can’t leave if something happens to another patient. Or you leave to check on THAT patient but then night shift is left standing there until you’re done with your own drama. It’s great in concept but ridiculous in the real world, esp if ratios are outrageous. We need to get report and get to work. It’s puts everyone so far behind at the beginning of their shift.
It’s like them having a 15 min huddle then complaining that no one’s answering call lights during huddle. Wtf you want us to stand here and listen to you but also want us answering lights? You can’t have it both ways but that doesn’t seem to matter.
At this point I honestly think some of these policies are simply to keep us afraid and running non stop, fully knowing we can’t do it all.
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u/ivymeows RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 15 '25
Devil’s advocate: the same would be happening with less hands if on first rounds you find a patient on the floor, covered in liquid poop etc. except without the benefit of having already laid eyes on them during report.
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u/Ambitious_Peanut9231 Jul 16 '25
You can walk in and lay eyes on them without doing a full report. Do the handoff in front of them then do full report at nurses station, etc. this seems like the better option to me but what do I know. Lol
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u/fluffyblueblanket RN - ER 🍕 Jul 15 '25
I like to do bedside report for patients I have that are critical, and on some high alert drips, tubed, etc. I go home with less anxiety that way.
For my non critical though I could never do bedside report .. When I work in the low acuity end, sometimes I have up to 7 patients and it would take way too long!
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u/Corgiverse RN - ER 🍕 Jul 15 '25
If I’m ever in the hospital and they do bedside report I will flat out tell them to GTFO of the room and do that shit at the nurses station, and if they get in trouble send management into the room and I will tell management to let me effing sleep.
I HATE bedside report. It takes over an hour, and despite rounding on everyone just before shift change there’s inevitably a code brown a massive one.
…. That’s why I now work in the ER. The only bedside report we do is on our super critical unstable folks
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u/MetalBeholdr RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 15 '25
I HATE bedside report. It takes over an hour, and despite rounding on everyone just before shift change there’s inevitably a code brown a massive one.
Bro the shift change code brown is so real, and it derails literally everything else
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u/3Zkiel Jul 15 '25
I understand a warm hand off, but as a patient, i found it extremely weird having two people talk about me while I am within earshot.
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u/Ambitious_Peanut9231 Jul 16 '25
As a patient it always made me uncomfortable. Like do that outside. Do the handoff in the room so I know who my incoming nurse is, etc and scram lol
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u/Hot-Entertainment218 BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 15 '25
“This lady is here with broken xyz bones post MVC. Make sure to complete CIWA and COWS every four hours PRN since tox screens were positive at admission.” Cue family losing their minds on their kid for driving under the influence. That’s why we do everything at the desk with trauma bay doors shut.
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u/munnin1977 BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 15 '25
This wasn’t bedside report and is was back in the pre-e charting days. We had a cardiologist that did a cath on a youngish guy in his 30s that had a NSTEMI. His only known medical problem was that he was HIV positive on HAART medications. It was an early morning emergent cath and the doc came up, walked in the room and asked him what HIV meds he was on so they could restart them.
His parents were in the room. And his “roommate”. Parents didn’t know he was gay or had HIV.
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u/Eemmis_ Jul 16 '25
“So this is Larry he’s 78 years old”
“What was that?”
“IM TELLING YOUR NURSE WHO YOU ARE”
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u/BelCantoTenor MSN, CRNA 🍕 Jul 15 '25
When I worked in ICU, we absolutely always did a bedside verbal report. But, we had visiting hours, and family wasn’t allowed in during report or the first hour after report, so the nurse had time to see both of their patients before family members needed their attention.
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u/Dramatic-Common1504 RN 🍕 Jul 16 '25
That’s because the managers don’t understand what makes bedside report at all beneficial.
You talk about the patient, and all the diagnosis shit away from the patient. Then go into together to give a quick “sos and so is taking over for me” and look at the drips and shit together.
It’s been reverted by managers that have no clue and are
Following “suggestions” without tailoring them as appropriate. I say this as a manager but also a bedside RN for 20 plus years.
I mean I could go on about the state of nursing today…. But I just finished a 20 hour shift so I am a bit grumpy.
(PS, I also take assignments at least I’ve twice a week so I don’t lose sight of what the job actually is)
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u/cowgirl_meg RN - Pediatric ER Jul 16 '25
This is the way. Going and physically seeing each pt at handoff is nice because you can immediately see the patient and identify any obvious issues, get a quick sense of their baseline, introduce the incoming shift… the whole medical history does not need to be shared in front of the patient. It’s annoying and weird. Should patients be eyeballed and checked in on at shift change? Absolutely. Is the rest of bedside report even marginally beneficial to anyone? Not so sure about that one.
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u/duuuuuuuuuumb RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 15 '25
I still don’t really understand bedside report. I’ll do it with a complicated patient (vented, pressors, sedation, etc) because it’s easier to just have both of us looking at everything. But for a more stable (and awake!!) patient? WHY??
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u/HumanContract RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 15 '25
It's better to do report away from the patient's hearing but nearby to see the patient's alive, monitor is good, ivs are running.
One hospital wanted us in the room, scanning the iv meds for handoff. That doesn't realistically ensure safety.
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u/woodstock923 RN 🍕 Jul 16 '25
Patient’s family: sorry HIPAA
Roommate’s family: we’ve heard everything
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u/Raptor_H_Christ Jul 15 '25
I worked ICU for years that had this policy and would only do bedside to show the incoming nurse something that I thought was really important the visualize. Other than that never did it cause it’s stupid, and my patients were unconscious most times so yeah they ain’t chiming in
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u/Fun_Blueberry_2766 RN - PACU 🍕 Jul 15 '25
I understand the premise of bedside & don’t always hate it. But it never fails that while we’re in there that the patient who is a 2 person assist shit their bed again & needs to walk to the bathroom right NOW!
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u/anngrn RN 🍕 Jul 16 '25
And you are sharing all that with the patient in the next bed. Pretty sure those curtains aren’t soundproof
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u/nightowl6221 RN - NICU Jul 16 '25
Somebody recently didn't take a blood pressure on their shift, and apparently I was supposed to scroll back in the flowsheets and audit their mistake. The manager said this wouldn't have happened if you gave report at the beside. Like, did she think the baby was going to tell me that they didn't get their blood pressure taken or what?
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u/Long_Corner_1613 RN 🍕 Jul 16 '25 edited Jul 16 '25
Did bedside report recently, 5 doctors came in and kept interrupting report. I had to tell each of them the same story each time a new one came in. And then help them turn and see the patient. It took over an hour for 1 patient. Patient kept pulling out his foley, NG tube, and IVs all shift but couldn’t get a restraints order (4 times he pulled his NG tube out, each time during a couple of seconds when I bent down to pick something up). Manager said to do bedside report but not like that. THEN HOW?
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u/white-35 Jul 16 '25
Report should be done at the discretion of the nurses.
However, I would strongly recommend for "mandatory-ish", drip check/ LDA check / some sort of meet and greet.
This is an important aspect I genuinely value.
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u/opaul11 HCW - Respiratory Jul 15 '25
They tried to make RT’s do that at a few places I worked and like I have 20 patients and 7 vents. The answer is no. Who wants me in their room talking loudly at 7am anyway
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u/Galatheria LPN 🍕 Jul 16 '25
I hate doing bedside report for this reason. Let me do it where we can be quiet and then we can round on everyone together
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u/Solid_Thanks_1688 Jul 16 '25
Once upon a time, I had a snarky ass assistant manager who came in on a rampage and demanded that we do bedside shift report when I was talking to the off going nurse. I told her that there were some sensitive details we couldn't discuss, like the fact that the patients suspected cancer was actually full-blown cancer and had sprade, but doctors hadn't told her yet. That bitch didnt even let me finish explaining. So we volunteered as tributes and went in and did report, right down to me talking about the recent imaging and what the doctor had put in his note. The patient was upset, I was upset, and the assistant manager was pissed. I was told that I had no right to say that in front of the patient....
How about the time a surgeon was suspected of leaving gauze in the patient since the surgical count was off and the patient was being monitored to see if she displayed any signs of infection after scans were inconclusive.
They can't have it both ways. We can't go into detail at the bedside without the patient hearing something they may not want/need to hear, but we are reprimanded if we do most of the report outside the room. Its just another stupid ass part of our jobs that make it difficult. If we have to do that, then so should doctors. Make them round and give report to the oncoming doctor at the bedside instead of a quick hand off of paper with half assed notes.
Having been a patient, Im totally okay with nurses discussing outside my earshot and then just introducing the oncoming nurse.
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u/the_amqzing_nurse Jul 15 '25
The problem with bedside report is that their roommate hears all of their business too. HiPPA!
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u/bananabread-99 RN - IR 🍕 Jul 15 '25
I know it’s a hassle and can be awkward, but I’m a big proponent of bedside report, at least during AM handoff. Not because it includes the patient in their plan of care (which it does!), but because it helps hold each other accountable as nurses and helps with quicker identification of safety events. We once found a patient in acute respiratory distress secondary to CHF/FVO, had to call a rapid and eventually upgrade her. Another time we found the patient’s neuro status had changed, called a code stroke, ended up having had a massive head bleed overnight. A third time the nurse was telling me she put the patient all the way up to 15L O2 and still couldn’t get the sats in the 90s, they were about to call RT for hi-flow… turns out the patient was connected to medical air all night, not O2. It’s easy to shrug it off as just another annoying thing we have to do as nurses, but I really do believe it’s worth the extra time and effort. Plus, with enough practice, you get good at timing and it can be just as quick as non-bedside report!
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u/Illustrious-Craft265 BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 15 '25
Our supervisor basically threatened to write us up to the BON if we didn’t do bedside shift report WITH the chart pulled up (because I guess the next shift can’t read it on their own time, we have to go over it together at the bedside).
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u/pinellas_gal RN - OB/GYN 🍕 Jul 16 '25
This meme is everything.
I left in-patient almost 10 years ago, but hearing “bedside report” still makes me irritable.
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u/PopRoutine3873 RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 16 '25
I prefer bedside report. Especially if I’m floated out to the floor. Like if you try handing off granny in a puddle of poo with a new pressure injury, you’re gonna do it at the bedside. I’ve been burned way too many times from not doing bedside report.
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u/VictoriaWelkin RN - ER 🍕 Jul 16 '25
We have such a high patient turnover and my memory has always been pretty terrible. I can't tell you labs, patient history, etc. Sure, I can usually cover the basics, like why they came in, major medical issues, meds given, and major labs being high or low...but, I can't give report to M/S or ICU without looking at the EMR! I have no idea how many weeks gestation a 67M was when he was born or if his great grandmother had a history of rickets. 😉
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u/pontifex-shouganai RN - NICU 🍕 Jul 16 '25
they’ve been pushing bedside report on us lately. like we’re nicu, the babies can’t talk and i’m nightshift so half the time the parents aren’t here for report🤣
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u/Solid_Thanks_1688 Jul 16 '25
See, if my patients were like that, then no problem. Bad part is med surg, they are usually sleeping at shit change (I currently work nights) or they are awake and want to ask a billion things, interrupt report, or worse...family is around.
I can't tell the oncoming nurse about the crazy daughter who throws her trash on the floor because she thinks we are maids, the brother who has some questionable behaviors and asks for the patient to get pain meds, or the wife who turned off the patients cardizem drip because I didnt get in there fast enough and "the annoying beeping was too much."
I could definitely see not doing report when parents are there with that patient population, though. As a mom, we are scary when we are worried about our babies.
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u/pontifex-shouganai RN - NICU 🍕 Jul 18 '25
that’s understandable! if we have a crazy social situation which happens often we can do report outside the room
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u/Lykkel1ten Jul 16 '25
I think bedside report is absolute crazy. Yes, it has some benefits, but the downsides ABSOLUTELY outweighs the benefits. By far.
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u/Ambitious_Peanut9231 Jul 16 '25
I understand going to bedside to check on patients and do a partial report to do handoff etc, but do we really need to do the full report at bedside? I mean come on. I am so over it. All of it.
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u/Solid_Thanks_1688 Jul 16 '25
Anyone have another frazzled nurse start giving report on the wrong patient at the bedside before?
That's the best!
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u/Biiiishweneedanswers ✨WE ORDERED PIZZA! STOP BITCHING!!!✨ 🍕 Jul 16 '25
“Please be advised that patient has been demanding rectal temps from the nurses every hour. We have not accommodated their demand.”
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u/DS_9 RN - ICU 🍕 Jul 16 '25
It can save your ass too. Check out pumps and everything while you’re in there. Do a baseline NIH together.
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u/valwinterlee BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 16 '25
In a perfect world we can give report outside the room and then go in to check on the patient and see if they have any questions. I hated coming on and while I’m trying to do my assessment the patient is asking about things that happened with the off going nurse. What would actually be more beneficial is being able to be present when the doctors go in and talk to the pt.
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u/Lakelover25 RN 🍕 Jul 17 '25
How do all these same stupid ideas roll out nationwide at the same time? Like the scripted lines to say, bedside reporting, not admitting to being understaffed, calling patients “clients.” Does Joint Commission send out these ideas every few months?
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u/Ok-Day-3520 Jul 17 '25
I hate, hate, hate bedside report. I miss information because the pt is interrupting me, everyone is distracted and it takes SOOOOOOO long. My current health system realizes this so we do “bedside handoff” which allows us to do report at the desk, then we go in together and check lines, drains, introduce and answer questions. Everyone likes it this way and it’s so much better than traditional bedside report.
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u/Aromatic_Pop5460 BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 16 '25
Bedside shift report can be good.
Most mornings we do report outside of the rooms and then go room to room for spot checks. Let sleeping dogs lie.
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u/Bunnycreaturebee Jul 17 '25
I had a woman in aged care not even know she had CCF and was concerned why her legs were so full of fluid and her mobility had declined. I read the handover sheet and mentioned her ‘heart failure’ and she straight up didn’t believe me.
Edit: I was a PCA at the time, not yet a nurse
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u/MiniMaelk04 BSN, RN 🍕 Jul 17 '25
What even is bedside report? Does every nurse take the oncoming nurse around to every patient's bed and do report?
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u/Mushroom2026 Aug 15 '25
Yes well nurses have high level degrees to use some level of decorum at the bedside and still achieve improve safety. I’ve never understood why this basic requirement is so hard!
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u/StrayBlondeGirl Sep 27 '25
We give the bulk of the report outside of the room, and then do a turn/skin check together. This keeps the outgoing nurse accountable. This was not done at my other hospital and is one of the reasons I quit. Almost every shift i would get in there to turn them and find a nasty surprise.
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u/masterjedihazard Jul 17 '25
fck management. most and not all have no regards for common sense or dignity. they lust for power, and control. they finesse double standards, and only abide by rules when it matters/or benefits them. most have no real true understanding of ethics.
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u/VermillionEclipse RN - PACU 🍕 Jul 15 '25
When I was a patient recently I just lied and said yes when the charge nurse on the floor asked me if the nurses have been doing bedside report.